A Boy Named Christine

Gary Gramling |
September 1st 2009, 4:55 pm

That rather large fellow to the left is Christine Michael. That's a picture of him running all over the place at the U.S. Army All-American Bowl, a high school all-star game. This season, he'll be running for Texas A&M.

Now, you might think a blog post about a guy named Christine is mostly going to make fun of his first name. But you'd be wrong. Here's why I won't be doing that...

1. Christine Michael is much bigger and much faster than me and could kick my butt in every way imaginable.

2. His name is actually pronounced "Christian," not Christine.

3. Pretty soon he's going to be more than just a dude with a weird first name. He's going to be the best freshman running back in college football.

Michael is going to make some defenses look silly in 2009. At 5' 11" and 202 lbs., he's got a great build for any college back, let alone a true freshman. But despite his sturdy build, he's not just a power pack. He can make defenders miss and has break away speed once he gets through the second level.

On top of that, the Big 12 is full of soft defenses who are ripe for the running over, and A&M head coach Mike Sherman (formerly the Green Bay Packers head coach) knows how to build a running game.

So with the college football season about to get underway, Christine is a name to remember.